Octroi cannot be levied on bonded warehouse goods kept within municipal limits only for removal outside those limits.

Octroi under section 192 of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act is confined to goods entering Greater Bombay for consumption, use or sale therein, so imported goods kept in a Customs Bonded Warehouse within municipal limits solely pending removal outside those limits do not attract the levy if they are not intended for local consumption, use or sale. The summary rejection of the writ petition was therefore set aside and the appeal allowed, with interim relief continued on terms and the appellants' undertaking accepted pending disposal of the petition.

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Issues: Whether octroi could be levied on imported goods stored in Customs Bonded Warehouses within municipal limits pending their transport outside those limits, and whether the summary rejection of the writ petition should be set aside.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the scope of section 192 of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, which permits octroi only on goods entering Greater Bombay for consumption, use or sale therein. The appellants' case was that goods kept in a Customs Bonded Warehouse, with an undertaking that they would not be used, consumed or sold within the municipal limits and would be taken outside, did not answer that description. The matter was considered fit for adjudication and the summary rejection was therefore not appropriate.

Conclusion: The summary rejection was set aside and the appeal was allowed. Interim relief was continued on terms, with the appellants' undertaking accepted and the service charge element payable pending disposal of the petition.

Ratio Decidendi: Octroi cannot be treated as leviable where imported goods are stored in a Customs Bonded Warehouse within municipal limits solely pending removal outside those limits, if they are not meant for consumption, use or sale therein.

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